My search for my new mac once again leads me to macrumors! Here's the deal. I'm getting a camcorder with mini dv and wish to edit what I shoot on a mac. I want to buy new, not used, and do not have a monitor yet. I have about $2k to spend. I started looking into the new iMac which seems to do an alright job, but I'm still not totally sure. I would get a powermac but those get expensive, even if they are upgradable. Would a G3 iBook be acceptable if it had 640 megs of ram? What are your opinions?
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Video Editing under $2k
- Thread starter coolocity
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Personally, I think that if you are doing anything with video editing or such go with a G4, especially if you are using FCP. I'm not too sure how others on your search will reply, but we'll see... 
Re: Video Editing under $2k
I think you'd be better off with a G4 system rather than a G3 if you are in any way serious about this stuff.
Have you looked at the eMac. Almost identicle to the iMac, but with a CRT screen which sports a higher resolution. You don't get as much of a choice of optical drives, but its something worth looking at.
Either an eMac or an iMac would be much better than an iBook. the iBook compromises on speed and power and storage space because its the consumer portable. The high end iMAc is really good. My dad has one. I liked it a lot, fairly big hard disk as well.
In any event, wait for a couple of weeks until after macworld NY. They will likely release a new tower system, and maybe some other lines will get minor updates. Even if you don't awnto one of the systems that comes out then, you could probably get some good deals on the current systems afterwards.
I think you'd be better off with a G4 system rather than a G3 if you are in any way serious about this stuff.
Have you looked at the eMac. Almost identicle to the iMac, but with a CRT screen which sports a higher resolution. You don't get as much of a choice of optical drives, but its something worth looking at.
Either an eMac or an iMac would be much better than an iBook. the iBook compromises on speed and power and storage space because its the consumer portable. The high end iMAc is really good. My dad has one. I liked it a lot, fairly big hard disk as well.
In any event, wait for a couple of weeks until after macworld NY. They will likely release a new tower system, and maybe some other lines will get minor updates. Even if you don't awnto one of the systems that comes out then, you could probably get some good deals on the current systems afterwards.
Depends on whether you require a portability or not...... if you do then go for the iBook..... it'll do the do the job just fine... although obviously not as fast as a PowerBook..........
If portability isn't the main requirement then it's a toss up between the eMac and the iMac G4......... if it was me I'd go for the iMac G4..... I prefer the looks, and I much prefer LCD screens........... but the eMac is pretty dandy as well.....
But as the others have said........ what for MWNY and see what happens......
If portability isn't the main requirement then it's a toss up between the eMac and the iMac G4......... if it was me I'd go for the iMac G4..... I prefer the looks, and I much prefer LCD screens........... but the eMac is pretty dandy as well.....
But as the others have said........ what for MWNY and see what happens......
Originally posted by iGAV
Depends on whether you require a portability or not...... if you do then go for the iBook..... it'll do the do the job just fine... although obviously not as fast as a PowerBook..........
If portability isn't the main requirement then it's a toss up between the eMac and the iMac G4......... if it was me I'd go for the iMac G4..... I prefer the looks, and I much prefer LCD screens........... but the eMac is pretty dandy as well.....
But as the others have said........ what for MWNY and see what happens......
Well, portability isn't a requirement, but it would be nice. I'd love to get the eMac, but only if they could throw in a Superdrive, need something to watch DVDs on.
I've heard the 700mhz G3 iBook wouldn't perform as well as I'd like it to, any truth to that? I'm pretty much going to be using iMovie 2, but I wouldn't mind trying FCP 3. I'm pretty sure the iBook meets the requirements for FCP. I've seen some pretty nice video editing done on the older iBooks, so this seems to be the best option for me. I would have to fill that thing with Ram though, 640 I'm thinking.
Yeah, it's a ZR45, I found one for $475 new, nothing like that on ebay, or at least I don't think so. These things retail for $699 in stores, think I got a good enough deal as it is. Already have it, loving it.
iMac
an iMac is just fine for consumer DV edditing. Its almost as fast as the towers and iMovie is simple and free. You can get plugins for it when you start getting good at it. FCP is a fantastic app but its very expensive and would not be easy for some one thats new to DV to just pick up and go. I have a Cannon ZR45 (got it this weekend) ... now I wish I had not after seeing the prices quoted here... I paid $660 for mine. I hooked it up and I was edditing in only a few min. It took me longer to find the FireWire port on the Cmaera than it did for me to start edditing with iMovie.
-evildead
an iMac is just fine for consumer DV edditing. Its almost as fast as the towers and iMovie is simple and free. You can get plugins for it when you start getting good at it. FCP is a fantastic app but its very expensive and would not be easy for some one thats new to DV to just pick up and go. I have a Cannon ZR45 (got it this weekend) ... now I wish I had not after seeing the prices quoted here... I paid $660 for mine.
I hooked it up and I was edditing in only a few min. It took me longer to find the FireWire port on the Cmaera than it did for me to start edditing with iMovie. -evildead
Re: iMac
Yeah, I went to electronics.cnet.com and looked up camcorders. They show you the cheapest places to get them. I always do that before I buy things like that. I really wish they would do something to the iBook, be it a price drop or *hopefully* put a G4 in - but that would mean they would have to use a different battery bc that one would probobly only run for 3 hours with a G4 sucking energy out of it. Portability would be great, truly great.
Also, does anyone know if firewire cables act as a source of electricity? Like, could I power my camcorder via firewire? I know that works for some things - can anyone confirm this?
Originally posted by evildead
an iMac is just fine for consumer DV edditing. Its almost as fast as the towers and iMovie is simple and free. You can get plugins for it when you start getting good at it. FCP is a fantastic app but its very expensive and would not be easy for some one thats new to DV to just pick up and go. I have a Cannon ZR45 (got it this weekend) ... now I wish I had not after seeing the prices quoted here... I paid $660 for mine.
-evildead
Yeah, I went to electronics.cnet.com and looked up camcorders. They show you the cheapest places to get them. I always do that before I buy things like that. I really wish they would do something to the iBook, be it a price drop or *hopefully* put a G4 in - but that would mean they would have to use a different battery bc that one would probobly only run for 3 hours with a G4 sucking energy out of it. Portability would be great, truly great.
Also, does anyone know if firewire cables act as a source of electricity? Like, could I power my camcorder via firewire? I know that works for some things - can anyone confirm this?
I say go with the eMac. If you want to spend less than 2K its your machine. IF you throw out the camera price, you can get an eMac and FCP 3 for around 2K. To me, this is better than 1800 for an iMac and then another grand for FCP.
Don't worry abot the slower clock, just get RAM. I run FCP 3 on a G4/400 (also on my G#/400 powerbook for that matter) and it runs fine on both. Admitily, I wouldn't want to mess with HD or a thoudsand effects on my system, but it sounds like you want a reasonable package with power and useability to do more middle of the road stuff. If you can even consider using iMovie, you don't need all the real time stuff in FCP.
Besides, projects that overuse the pro stuff in FCP, transitions, wipes, etc., usualy look like campy kids stuff movies. It's just tacky man.
Don't worry abot the slower clock, just get RAM. I run FCP 3 on a G4/400 (also on my G#/400 powerbook for that matter) and it runs fine on both. Admitily, I wouldn't want to mess with HD or a thoudsand effects on my system, but it sounds like you want a reasonable package with power and useability to do more middle of the road stuff. If you can even consider using iMovie, you don't need all the real time stuff in FCP.
Besides, projects that overuse the pro stuff in FCP, transitions, wipes, etc., usualy look like campy kids stuff movies. It's just tacky man.
I know, as I said the eMac looks great but no dvd drive! Maybe the'll drop one in after the expo and I'll be all set. Just a combo drive, don't need Superdrive, although that would be nice.
One more thing - I'm not too worried about the price of FCP. I can get it pretty cheap ($299) through a student discount - no way I'm paying $1k for it.
If you get FCP, don't get a G3. You have to have at least a G4 450 or 500mhz machine to use FCPs RT effects. Also, Firewire to a DV camera is 6 pin to 4 pin, so "no" Firewire cannot power your camera.
How much are you going to edit? If it's anything more than "occasional" I'd buy a lower end tower (maybe wait for prices to drop afte MWNY). The biggest reason i say this is because editing w/only one monitor is not fun. It's do-able, but it's not fun. Especially if it's a large/complex project and you have to jump between the browser and the timeline/viewer/canvas a lot. the iMacs can only "mirror" the desktop on another monitor, they cannot "extend" the desktop. Even if you don't have the cash for 2 monitors now you can always save up and buy a 2nd monitor in the future.
Lethal
How much are you going to edit? If it's anything more than "occasional" I'd buy a lower end tower (maybe wait for prices to drop afte MWNY). The biggest reason i say this is because editing w/only one monitor is not fun. It's do-able, but it's not fun. Especially if it's a large/complex project and you have to jump between the browser and the timeline/viewer/canvas a lot. the iMacs can only "mirror" the desktop on another monitor, they cannot "extend" the desktop. Even if you don't have the cash for 2 monitors now you can always save up and buy a 2nd monitor in the future.
Lethal
If you just want to watch DVD's, do yourself a favor and get a set top DVD player. Watching DVD's sitting in front of your computer sucks. Better to watch them on your couch or something. Save money with the eMac, then spend the money on a DVD player for your TV or something. I wouldn't let a DVD rom be a deciding factor if I were you.
I guess I just liked the idea of being able to bring my iBook with me and watch DVDs wherever. The 12" or 14" could make those long trips much more interesting.
hey, if you want a portable DVD player, get the iBook, its not much mre than some of the consumer DVD portables. If that's your thing man, go for it. Think about it this way. If you want to do scaled down home movie stuff without a lot of work and grinding, go with an iBook, you get everything you want, portable, powerfull, and you can run iMovie. Your set. On the other hand, if you want to do serious produciton work with an eye towards braodcast quality, your gonna go over two grand, more like four or five. Its a drag, but editing has become very cheap from a relative prospective. It used to cost a hundred times that to get into production. Its still not cheap for struggling students, or just finished being struggling student joes.